Ricky Rubio starting to rub off on other Timberwolves, who are better passers, shooters, ballhandlers when he's in game

St. Paul Pioneer Press | Jan 18

He's rubbing off

Timberwolves coach Rick Adelman was hesitant to put Ricky Rubio in the starting lineup the first 2-1/2 weeks of the season. He wanted to ease the Spanish rookie into the lineup and allow him to make a gradual adjustment to the NBA.

Now that Rubio has made three starts, almost resulting in a 3-0 run for the Wolves, Adelman has seen the benefits of accelerating Rubio's development as the team's primary floor leader.

The Wolves' shooting percentage has climbed after each start - and turnovers have gone down in each game. One other key factor has been noticeable by Adelman and his players.

"Before Ricky was starting, the ball wasn't moving as well," Wolves forward Kevin Love said. "There would be one or two passes, then a shot would go up. With Ricky, the ball keeps moving. We're having a lot of hockey assists out there."